One Thing
by DamonsGurl95
Summary: High School Musical 2 from Taylor and Chad's perspective. Written as a prequel to Sparks Fly. If you want to read them in order it's Take A Chance On Me (HSM), One Thing (HSM2), Sparks Fly (HSM3), All In (Sequel)
1. Chapter 1

One Thing

 **Chapter 1**

A/N: Prequel to 'Sparks Fly', High School Musical 2 from Taylor and Chad's perspective. It is not necessary to read 'Sparks Fly' before you read 'One Thing'. As mentioned at the end of 'Sparks Fly' I will be writing High School Musical from Taylor and Chad's perspective as well. Feel free to wait until then to read the stories in order. This particular story was inspired by 'One Thing' by One Direction. Anything that you recognise (movie dialogue or song lyrics) belong to the creators and everyone involved in the movie. Anyway I hope that you enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it :-)

It was the final day of the school year before summer arrived and Taylor was not looking forward to it. She and Gabriella had spent the last two months applying for summer jobs only to be turned down in place of college students. At this rate it looked like Taylor would be spending the entire summer trying to find a job rather than earning money.

Taylor reluctantly got ready for school, the only good thing about the day was that she would get to see her boyfriend Chad. They hadn't been dating for very long but Taylor could already tell that she wanted him in her life for as long as possible.

As Taylor headed downstairs her phone vibrated in her hand, she smiled as she read the message from Chad, 'hey babe, ready for the last day? Bring on the best summer ever. Chad x'. Taylor quickly typed a response, 'hey, not really ready for looking for a job but it should be a good day in general. Can't wait. Taylor x P.S. nice use of a kiss ;-)'.

Chad had only just started texting Taylor with a 'x' at the end, signifying a kiss and Taylor thought it was really sweet. Although she had been sworn to not tell a soul, so naturally she told her best friends but warned them not to say a word to the guys.

The day felt like it dragged on forever, Taylor and Chad didn't have any classes together for the whole day, until homeroom which was always at the end of the day on the last day of school.

Chad was standing outside the classroom when Taylor walked over with Gabriella who immediately retreated inside to see her own boyfriend.

"Do you wanna grab an ice cream after school to celebrate being another year over?" Chad asked.

Taylor smiled, "I'd love to except my sister is home for the weekend and my parents are desperate for us to have some quality time together. I can go out tomorrow."

Chad nodded, "it's a date."

Taylor blushed a little, it was still a fairly new relationship.

They both quickly walked into the room and took their seats as they spotted their homeroom teacher Ms Darbus coming down the hall, best not be on her bad side on the last day of school.

Unfortunately for their friend Zeke that's exactly where he ended up. Not only did Zeke walk in late, he also decided to talk, loudly, to Jason while Ms Darbus was giving one of her speeches that no one really paid attention to. This landed him a seat on a tiny wooden chair with a cone shaped hat on his head that read 'Shhhhh'.

Taylor watched Chad whispering back and forth with Troy and hoped that Ms Darbus wouldn't notice, they were nearly in safe territory with the final bell about to ring in less than two minutes.

"So what's your favourite summer memory Ms Darbus?" Jason asked.

Taylor rolled her eyes, Jason meant well he just didn't get that no one wanted to listen to Ms Darbus drone on about her summer vacations from when she was their age.

With less than a minute to go until summer vacation could begin the room was filled with the echo of 'summer' as each student got more excited at the prospect of being free of school for a couple of months.

The final bell rang and chaos ensued.

Who would have thought that everyone would be excited for summer vacation?

Taylor and Martha were walking behind the boys and listening to them talk about summer jobs. Taylor felt a little jealous when Zeke said that his parents were going to match whatever he made. Taylor's parents were the type who believed you had to earn money for yourself, they had also specifically said that they wouldn't be giving her any money over the summer, if she wanted money she had to get a job and earn it. Getting a job seemed to be on everyone's mind that afternoon.

The boys came to a stop by Troy's locker and Taylor and Martha walked past them. Taylor turning to smile at Chad, she heard him mumble something to his friends but had no idea what it was.

Taylor and Martha walked down the halls discussing job prospects themselves.

"How's job hunting going? I guess your parents are like mine and not Zeke's," Martha questioned.

"Yeah, my parents want me to get a job to learn the difficulty of juggling money, they won't be giving me any money this summer. Gabriella and I have had like five job interviews but we keep getting beat out by college kids," Taylor informed Martha.

"Yeah, same here," Martha agreed, clearly annoyed about the whole situation.

As they walked past a hallway Kelsi walked over to them and the three walked and talked.

"I guess I'm back in the babysitting business," Martha continued.

"Hey Martha, hey Taylor," Kelsi acknowledged.

"Hey Kels, what are you planning to do this summer?" Martha asked.

"Grow, write music, grow," Kelsi explained.

Martha and Taylor smiled at her.

Troy suddenly came running and leaping past them, Taylor realised instantly why, they were right around the corner from Gabriella's locker. At the same moment Chad came up beside Taylor and took her bag from her. Taylor smiled gratefully at him.

"Ready for an amazing summer?" Chad asked Taylor, "I have the perfect plan for the perfect summer with the perfect girl."

Taylor smiled, "think you can get me a job in your summer plan?"

"When I have one myself I'll let you know," Chad teased.

Taylor shook her head at him good-naturedly, "what's your plan for after we leave here today?"

"Troy's Dad wants us to play two-on-two, no rest for the basketballers. Next year every game will have college scouts, even though it's summer we can't afford not to work on our game in the break. It could be my only chance of getting a scholarship," Chad explained.

"You'll get a scholarship Chad, I know you will," Taylor encouraged.

Chad gave her a small smile, "college will be a fortune if I don't. I guess we're both looking for jobs this summer."

"As long as we spend time together as well I can deal with not going on dates. A simple home cooked meal and a movie is enough for me," Taylor smiled.

Chad laughed, "yeah cause I should be trusted in the kitchen."

Taylor laughed as they rounded the corner.

Taylor spotted the necklace that Troy was putting around Gabriella's neck and she immediately put an arm out in front of Chad to prevent him from ruining their moment.

Taylor felt her heart swell as she watched her best friend fall even more in love with Troy. She had known Troy since first grade and not once had she seen him being romantic, Taylor had to admit she was impressed, she didn't think he had it in him.

Chad shared a look with Taylor, a look that clearly said 'did you know about this?' they both subtly shook their heads.

Who would've thought that Troy Bolton was a closet romantic.

Just as they were about to kiss a freshman, who was clearly a big fan of Troy's, walked over with his yearbook opened for Troy to sign.

Taylor sighed, not all romantic moments were meant to last.

Chad decided he'd had enough of waiting and called out to Troy, "hoops come on let's go."

Taylor shook her head at Chad's antics as she waited for Troy to follow Chad and she could tell Gabriella how beautiful the necklace was.

Troy sighed, "sure, sure, cause I'm not busy or anything."

Troy walked away and Gabriella turned to Taylor. The two friends looked at each other impressed by Troy's gift, there was a hint of surprise in the look too.

Martha and Kelsi followed the girls, all four were grinning at how sweet Troy was.

They rounded another corner and came face to face with the guys, Chad took Taylor's hand and they led the group to the exit.

Chad let go of Taylor's hand a moment later as they walked past the Evans' lockers.

"So here's my plan," Chad said using both hands to draw a circle in the air, "for the next two days we relax and enjoy that we're on vacation. Then on Monday we will be refreshed and be able to find a job."

Taylor smiled adoringly at Chad as he retook her hand in his, "that sounds like a perfect plan."

Taylor and Chad were followed by their friends as they walked out of the front doors of the school. It was finally summer time.

Chad lifted Taylor off the ground and spun her around in his arms, they were both laughing and smiling. It was a great way to start summer, together.

They said goodbye to their friends and headed to the parking lot, Chad promising to meet Troy, Zeke, and Jason at Troy's house in an hour.

Chad held Taylor's hand the entire walk over to where Taylor spotted her sister waiting.

"Do you want a lift?" Taylor asked.

Chad smiled, "that'd be great. I guess this means that I'm meeting your sister?"

Taylor laughed, "yep, don't be offended if she isn't very nice to you. She's not a big fan of me dating. To Hailey I'm still her baby sister who she has to protect."

"Maybe I should just get a lift with Troy," Chad suggested uncertainly.

Taylor smiled, "you don't have to be worried. She probably won't even acknowledge you, trust me it's not a bad thing."

Taylor squeezed Chad's hand and they walked over to a light blue car.

"Tay Tay," a woman squealed in excitement.

Taylor laughed, "hey Hails."

The two hugged tightly.

"It's so good to see you Honey Bee," Hailey said as they pulled apart.

"It's good to see you too Miss Bossy," Taylor laughed.

Chad raised his eyebrows at their nicknames for one another.

Taylor smiled as she explained to Chad, "I'm sweet like honey and she's bossy."

"I started calling her Honey Bee when she was two, Taylor was the sweetest toddler. When she was three she started calling me Miss Bossy cause I'd boss her around, I was eight, didn't know that she knew what I was doing," Hailey laughed.

"Hailey this is my boyfriend Chad, Chad this is my sister Hailey," Taylor smiled as she introduced the two.

"Good to meet you Chad, it's nice to put a face to the name," Hailey smiled as she shook his hand.

"It's good to meet you too," Chad smiled.

"Can we please give Chad a lift home before we start our girly afternoon?" Taylor asked.

Hailey shrugged, "sure it'll give me time to grill him."

Taylor rolled her eyes, "ignore her, she's just jealous."

"That you got a hot guy and I'm in the friend zone with a hot guy, ah yeah definitely jealous," Hailey agreed.

The three got into the car and drove the ten minutes to Chad's house.

"What time do you want me to be at yours tomorrow?" Chad asked.

Taylor smiled, "10:30?"

"I'll be there," Chad smiled.

Chad kissed Taylor's cheek before getting out of the car. Taylor climbed into the front passenger's seat before Hailey drove off.

"Where to first? The mall or ice cream?" Hailey questioned.

"Hailey there's ice cream at the mall," Taylor laughed.

Hailey looked at her in confusion for a minute, "oh right, yeah, duh. To the mall we go."

Taylor laughed, "so how have you been sis?"

"Well let's just say the hot guy who friend zoned me is dating the biggest bitch in the college. I had to beg Mum and Dad to let me come home for the weekend so yeah it's been fun," Hailey said, pain clearly in her voice.

"I'm sorry Hails," Taylor said softly, "wait why did you have to beg Mum and Dad to be able to come home?"

"They were happy for me to come home until I told them that I was thinking of dropping out and I needed to see my family to get a new lease to be able to go back," Hailey explained.

"You're planning to drop out?" Taylor asked shocked.

"I don't know. I'm not really into studying to be a lawyer anymore," Hailey said, "I kinda want to be a teacher."

"I bet Mum was thrilled about that when you told her," Taylor teased.

"She did say 'I told you so' a few more times than should be considered mature," Hailey laughed.

"Only as Mum can," Taylor laughed.

After helping Troy's Mum bring the groceries in Troy was willing to talk to the guys about his earlier phone call.

"So who was on the end?" Chad asked.

"Believe it or not a country club. Have any of you heard of 'Lava Springs'? It's here in Albuquerque," Troy asked.

"I might have heard Sharpay mention it," Zeke offered.

"Never heard of it," Jason and Chad agreed.

"Well the manager Mr Fulton offered me a job and I requested that he offer jobs to all of us and the girls. He agreed, he just has to speak with the Lava Springs board first but he said we should all have summer jobs on Monday," Troy grinned.

"For reals man?" Chad asked surprised.

"Yeah. I told him that there were other wildcats in need of jobs, he said to give him your names, I included the girls, then he said he'd get back to me. He should be calling me over the weekend and we all start on Monday," Troy explained.

"Sweet," Jason and Zeke grinned.

"That's awesome man," Chad grinned himself.

That night Chad called Taylor to tell her the good news.

"Hey Tay, we're probably going to have jobs come Monday morning," Chad said before Taylor could even say 'hi'.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked curiously.

"Troy might have just gotten us all jobs at 'Lava Springs' it's a country club here in Albuquerque," Chad explained.

"Seriously?" Taylor asked in shock excitement.

"Yep, he's going to know by Sunday night, we'll have to start work on Monday morning if we get the jobs," Chad continued.

"That's amazing! Looks like our summer is going to be better than I ever imagined," Taylor smiled softly.

"It'll be amazing with or without a job Tay. I promise I'll make it amazing," Chad smiled.

"I have to go Mum and Dad are home. I'll see you tomorrow, how are you getting here?" Taylor smiled.

"I'll get the bus if Dad can't drive me. I'll see you tomorrow beautiful," Chad said.

Taylor blushed, "okay, I'll see you then."

They both hung up.

Taylor slept better that night than she had for the last few months knowing that her job search might have come to an end.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Taylor and Chad spent Saturday together.

They went to the movies and saw 'License to Wed', it had been Taylor's turn to choose much to Chad's annoyance although he did enjoy the movie, not that he would admit it. They had ice cream at a local ice cream parlour, and they had dinner at a local restaurant. All the while waiting for that all important phone call from Troy about their possible summer jobs.

It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that they, well Chad, finally heard from Troy.

Chad was sitting on the couch with his parents playing 'Monopoly' when his phone rang.

"Don't even think about stealing my money Dad I know exactly how much is there," Chad said before he got up to answer his phone in another room.

"Hey man," Chad answered.

"WE HAVE SUMMER JOBS!" Troy shouted down the phone.

"Seriously?!" Chad asked in shock.

Chad had hoped that they would get the jobs but he was starting to doubt that they were getting the jobs when he hadn't heard from Troy by lunchtime today. It was 4pm, it was great but it didn't give them much time to prepare.

"Yeah man. Mr Fulton just called me and said that we have all been approved by the board to start working at 'Lava Springs' tomorrow morning," Troy explained.

"That's amazing man. Have you told the others?" Chad asked.

"Not yet, I'm going to call Gabriella then everyone else," Troy said.

"I'll tell Taylor," Chad smiled.

"No problem man, we have to be at the club by 10:30am to work out the paperwork and everything before we can start working," Troy informed.

"Alright I'll pass on the message," Chad smiled.

"See you tomorrow," the two boys said at the same time.

Chad called Taylor to let her know that they were no longer looking for jobs tomorrow instead they were going to work.

"Really?" Taylor asked excitedly.

"We're spending tomorrow working babe, not looking for jobs," Chad informed.

"This is amazing Chad. Tell me the details," Taylor told him.

Chad chuckled, "only you would be excited at the prospect of having to work."

"Well I could use the money, unlike you and Zeke my parents aren't going to match whatever I make," Taylor explained.

"Fair enough Tay. So Troy says we have to be there by 10:30am, so I'll get my Dad to take us. His boss made him use his annual leave that he's accumulated over the years so he's home for the next month. We'll pick you up at 10am," Chad responded.

"Awesome, I'll see you then. Bye," Taylor smiled.

"I'll see you tomorrow babe," Chad said before hanging up, a smile on his face.

Only Taylor would be excited about starting a summer job, he was excited to work at a country club but only because it would be a great place for he and Taylor to enjoy dates.

At 10am on Monday morning Chad knocked on Taylor's front door, Hailey answered.

"Hey Chad, Tay said you were coming to pick her up for your first day of work," Hailey smiled.

"Hey, yeah, is she ready?" Chad asked.

"Tay your boyfriend is here!" Hailey called into the house.

A few moments later Taylor appeared.

"Ready to go?" Chad asked.

"Ready as I can be," Taylor smiled.

They arrived at the country club at 10:20am meeting their friends out the front.

The boys were all led to the pool area by Mr Fulton. Taylor, Kelsi, and Martha headed in a different direction to the boys to the pool area after being informed by a female employee about the club's dress code.

Gabriella had arrived earlier at Mr Fulton's request to take over from the current lifeguard.

The wildcats all smiled when they saw her standing by her post. They all knew that Gabriella would make a great lifeguard.

Their smiles were wiped from their faces when they spotted Sharpay as she fell into the pool.

Without hesitation they all rushed over to see if she was okay, of course Gabriella immediately jumped into the pool to help Sharpay.

The boys were standing by the pool where Sharpay fell in. Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi were stood on the other side of the pool watching on, trying hard not to laugh at the spectacle that Sharpay was making of herself.

As Sharpay swam away and called Mr Fulton to his office the girls joined the boys, all except Gabriella who was already working, and headed to the kitchen where they would be given their job assignments.

"Well that was one way to start our summer," Martha laughed.

Taylor shook her head trying not to laugh, "I don't know what's better Sharpay falling into the pool or knowing that Mr Fulton has to deal with the Sharpay that we all know and hate."

"The second part is definitely the best part of this whole deal," Kelsi laughed.

They were all waiting for Mr Fulton to tell them their job descriptions.

"Why was she here anyway?" Martha questioned.

Kelsi sighed, "her parents own the place."

"What did you say Kels?" Chad asked.

"Sharpay and Ryan's parents own Lava Springs country club. That's why I'm here, Sharpay told me that their pianist was moving and hired me on the last day of school," Kelsi explained.

"Here are your uniforms, you are expected to wear them at all times. That means when you arrive you must be in uniform, when you leave you must not be in uniform. You represent the country club when you're wearing your uniforms. If you leave wearing your uniforms you are expected to change before going anywhere else other than your homes. If you are caught wearing your uniforms outside of this facility other than your car and home you will face immediate termination of your job. Is that clear?" A male employee informed them as he lay their uniforms, with name badges, on the table in the break room.

They all agreed to the rule as the man left.

After each grabbing their own uniforms they all went to the staff change rooms and got changed ready to hear what they would be doing. Although they had already begun to guess what jobs they had based on their uniforms. Zeke in particular was like a kid on sugar, he was excited about the prospects of working with the country club's head chef.

Taylor watched Chad, Troy, and Zeke talking and out of the corner of her eye she noticed Mr Fulton walking towards them. Taylor grabbed Martha and Kelsi's arms and pointed to their direction. The girls tried their hardest not to laugh as they watched the boys jump at Mr Fulton's unexpected appearance.

They overheard the boys assignments and quietly waited for their own.

Taylor knew that Chad wouldn't be happy having to be a waiter, or a caddy. Neither of those jobs were on his possible jobs list. He hated waiting on other people, other than herself of course. He also hated golf, he couldn't play it and he found it boring.

This was going to be an interesting summer.

Mr Fulton came over to Taylor next.

"Miss McKessie, I am told you're efficient," Mr Fulton said.

Taylor smiled, "well."

"Prove it. You'll handle member activities. Keep them insight at all times," Mr Fulton informed her as he handed Taylor a clipboard which listed her daily schedule.

"Kelsi, ah huh, piano. Lunch time and cocktail hour that means smooth music not new music. Kapeesh," Mr Fulton said.

Kelsi and Taylor looked at Mr Fulton and glared at his back, he had been so nice to them when they had first arrived and now he was barking out orders.

Chad had recovered from his shock over his job assignment and he walked over to Mr Fulton to query his job description.

"Mr Fulton your excellency sir, um, would it be okay if we draw straws to see who has to wait on Sharpay?" Chad asked.

"Please. None of you will be waiting on Sharpay," Mr Fulton informed him.

Chad sighed in relief, "oh yeah snap."

"You will be serving Miss Evans," Mr Fulton explained.

"Who's that?" Jason asked.

Taylor thought she might throw her clipboard at Jason for making a fool of himself in front of their boss on their first day of work.

"Always address our guests as Mr, Mrs or Miss," Mr Fulton told them.

Taylor walked over to Chad at that point.

"Do we have to?" Taylor whispered.

"I don't know," Chad whispered back.

It was bad enough that they had to deal with the devil that is Sharpay Evans at school, now they were going to have to deal with her everyday and call her 'Miss'. They had been excited to have summer jobs but now Taylor and Chad were looking forward to summer being over so that they could leave.

"Let's practice shall we?" Mr Fulton suggested, he turned to Jason, "Miss Evans would you care for a lemonade?"

Jason looked at him cluelessly, "actually I'm not Miss Evans, I'm Jason."

Taylor and Chad both face palmed at his cluelessness. Only Jason could respond that way and be completely serious, having no idea that he was making himself look ridiculous.

Then as if things couldn't get worse Gabriella walked in asking about lunch.

Chad and Troy tried to stop her but her mouth reacted quicker than her body.

"Miss Montez, it would seem that your lunch break does not start for 3.5 minutes. I do hope no members drowned in your absence," Mr Fulton said fiercely.

Taylor tried to hide her shock at Mr Fulton's words, covering her mouth to keep from arguing in defence of Gabriella. Chad looked shocked at Mr Fulton's words as well but he didn't have as much success hiding it. Taylor and Chad looked at one another their shock mirrored in their eyes.

"Henceforth, do clock in and out on time. Three infractions of any kind and your employment is terminated, kapeesh?" Mr Fulton said, his last words pointed to the girls.

Taylor tried to stay composed but couldn't hide the shock at his words as she, Martha, Gabriella, and Kelsi nodded their heads in understanding.

"Chop, chop, chop," Mr Fulton concluded as he left the kitchen.

Taylor thought that she might actually scream at Troy, it was his fault that they were in this mess. Chad had the same thought, Troy was the one that got them in this mess, Troy was the one who could get them out of it.

So much for the best summer ever, Taylor and Chad both thought.

"Okay that man officially scares me," Martha said, looking terrified.

Taylor, Kelsi, and Gabriella nodded their heads in agreement, "yeah."

Chad walked up to Troy his annoyance clear on his face, "suddenly I'm beginning to miss detention with Ms Darbus, how sick is that?"

Troy tried to look as though the situation wasn't as bad as it seemed.

"Come on, we got a hoop out back, two free meals a day, and we only have to wear these stupid outfits on duty," Troy tried to convince, "all for one and one for all. Alright, this is our summer, now what team?"

"Wildcats," Gabriella, Martha, and a few others responded.

"What team?" Troy yelled again.

"Wildcats," a few other people joined in.

Chad still wasn't convinced and neither was Taylor.

"Come on. How did we get from the top of the world to the bottom of the heap?" Chad sung.

Taylor came to stand beside Troy, "I don't recall you mentioning the boss is such a creep!"

Taylor walked away as Zeke put an arm around Chad and Troy's shoulders, "we still have the ingredients to make this summer sweet."

Chad rolled his eyes, pinched Zeke's ear and walked away, "what's wrong with you?" Chad asked Zeke angrily.

Martha took Chad's place, "well I got rags instead of riches."

"And all these dirty dishes," Jason said as he joined the group.

"Just wish I had three wishes," Taylor, Chad, Zeke, Martha, Jason, and Kelsi sang.

"Okay guys break it up," Gabriella sang as she forced her way to the centre of the group where Troy was, his positive energy still present.

"We've got to work, work, to work this out. We'll make things right the sun will shine. If we work, work, there'll be no doubt we can still save the summer if we work this out," Troy sang and began to dance.

Martha started to get into Troy's dance before Chad pulled her away.

"Wait," Chad said to Martha before turning on Troy, "dude what have you got us into?"

"Come on we can totally turned this thing around," Troy tried to convince.

Chad stood on the centre table, "I'd rather face a seven footer straight up in the post."

"Yeah," Taylor and Martha pushed a table with a toaster over to them, "that sure beats hangin' here and burning someone's toast," Taylor and Martha sang.

"I needed Benjamins, but this ain't worth the stress," Jason sang in Troy's face.

Troy was starting to lose confidence in himself and his ability to bring his friends around to the positives that this job could hold for all of them. He's face was downcast and uncertain.

"Maybe there's a better way to fix this greasy mess," Kelsi and Zeke suggested as Kelsi held up a greasy rag.

That was the push that Troy needed to get himself out of his uncertainty.

"We're a champion team," Troy sang, Kelsi, Zeke, Gabriella, and a reluctant Chad leaned closer to Troy as he continued to sing, "a well-oiled machine, and we've faced tougher problems than this," Troy's foot swung out to trip Chad up and make him listen, it only annoyed Chad more, "I know it's a grind," Troy grabbed Chad's shoulder, determined to get him on side, Chad just shrugged him off, "but I'm sure we can find a way to have fun while we get this job done. We've got to work, work to work this out," Troy sang and danced. Chad started to try the moves then rolled his eyes and moved out of the way, pushing Troy back as he went.

Gabriella, Kelsi, Zeke, Martha, and some of the other wildcats were now dancing at full swing.

"We'll make things right the sun will shine. If we work, work there'll be no doubt. If we all come together we can work things out. If we work this out!" Troy and Gabriella sang.

"Let's work it," Troy said.

By this point all of the wildcats, including Taylor and Chad were enjoying the song and dance. It wasn't something that they usually enjoyed but Gabriella and Troy were managing to turn the two around.

The wildcats were using pots, pans, spoons, cutlery, and other kitchen equipment, including the glassware to add a rhythm and beat to their singing.

Taylor and Chad decided that maybe they could work it out, if they all worked together. Maybe they could still save their summer.

Chad and Martha were putting a few hip hop moves into their routine. Chad realised that it was actually a good way for him to release the annoyance and frustration that he felt over the situation.

"Tell me what you want," Troy sang, bringing an end to the instrumental beat.

"Tell me what you need," Gabriella continued.

"A little bit of sugar," Zeke suggested.

"A little bit of butter," Martha added.

"It's the perfect recipe!" Kelsi sang.

"Pay day!" The wildcats half yelled, half sung.

"It'll taste so sweet," Jason decided.

"Pay Day!" The wildcats half yelled, half sung.

"Good enough to eat," Zeke agreed.

"Gonna make some motion pictures," Jason moved across the now formed group using his hands to make a camera.

"Hit the mall with all my sisters," Martha smiled, other girls walking behind her.

"Get tickets to the Knicks and Sixers," Zeke grinned as he mock threw a basketball into a non-existent basket.

"Kick it with the music mixers," Kelsi pretended to be a DJ.

"Buy a ride that suits my style," Chad sang as he sat atop a mobile table.

"Lounge around the pool a while," Taylor suggested as she sat on the same table behind Chad.

Chad took Taylor's hand and together they jumped off the cart and joined their friends.

"Make a date with my favourite girl," Troy sang.

"We've got it made!" Troy and Gabriella half sang, half yelled.

"We've got to work, work o work this out. We'll make things right, the sun will shine. If we work, work there'll be no doubt. We can still save the summer. If we work this out! Work This! Gotta Work This! We can work this out!" The wildcats sang.

"So can we work this out?" Troy asked Chad.

Chad grinned, "yeah we can work it out."

They all quickly moved into position around the kitchen as they heard Mr Fulton coming their way, "I'll send the waiters right in."

Taylor was sat on the table that Chad was leaning against, she tried to hide her dislike of Mr Fulton and decided to give the man a chance. They had all given Ryan a chance before and he proved that he might be related to Sharpay but he's nothing like her. Maybe Mr Fulton was just another victim of Sharpay's manipulation.

Mr Fulton walked into the kitchen, Chad and Troy grabbed their notepads and trays leaving the kitchen with smiles plastered on their faces.

After they left Mr Fulton ordered Taylor to go to the front desk lobby and get the children in the kids club ready to do some activities.

Gabriella was then ordered to return to the pool.

Taylor and Gabriella walked very quickly out of the kitchen.

"I don't know if I can deal with this all summer," Taylor sighed.

"It'll work out Tay, it has to. I can't handle another dull summer," Gabriella agreed.

"I'm sure the guys have got plans to make it work," Taylor decided.

"Let's make a promise that we'll make this summer great, no matter what," Gabriella suggested.

Taylor smiled, "deal."

At exactly 5pm Taylor was relieved to be able to hand the ten children back to their parents. She had had a very long day and was grateful for it to be over. All Taylor wanted was for Chad to take her to dinner and have this day end.

As if reading her mind Chad appeared behind Taylor wrapping his arms around her waist.

The parents, of the children that Taylor had looked after, smiled at the cuteness of the moment.

Taylor smiled as she spun around in Chad's arms to look him in the eyes.

Both of their eyes expressed their exhaustion from the day.

"I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow," Taylor smiled to the guests as Chad released her, taking her hand.

"Thank you Miss Taylor," the kids chorused.

Taylor smiled sweetly at them, "you are welcome kids. I'll see you tomorrow."

Chad took that as his queue to get Taylor out of there.

The couple walked through the halls in silence as they made their way to the kitchen to clock out. Neither of them wanted to get caught complaining about their jobs on the first day, they knew that Sharpay would have eyes and ears everywhere to get them kicked out as soon as possible. They were very aware that Sharpay had only intended to have Troy and Kelsi hired, not the entire junior class.

After clocking out Taylor and Chad headed to the front of the country club to wait for Chad's Dad, he was dropping them off at their favourite restaurant in town so that they could have dinner.

"So how was your day?" Chad asked once they were safely seated in a booth at the back of the restaurant away from prying eyes and ears.

"Full on. It definitely made me realise that I probably don't want to have a big family," Taylor stated.

Chad chuckled, "you wanted a big family?"

"Well yeah, my Dad came from a big family. It had been something that Hailey and I both wanted, we grew up having our aunts, uncles, and cousins around all the time. It was nice. Today after being on my own with ten children I realised that I couldn't handle that much responsibility," Taylor explained.

Chad smiled smally in understanding, "yeah I get that. I might have spent a fair amount of time around some children today too and come to the same conclusion."

Taylor looked at him in surprise, "what do you mean?"

"I was forced to clean up after a group of kids who decided to make the restaurant their home. They had thrown food scraps everywhere. Jason and I spent two hours cleaning it all up. Mr Fulton kicked the family out when he realised that the parents didn't care about what their children had done," Chad explained, "it was a long day."

"I know that we promised to make it work but I don't know how much more of this I can take," Taylor said.

"I never promised anything or anyone," Chad quickly defended.

Taylor sighed, "I promised Gabi cause she was scared that her first summer in one place would be a disaster."

"Well I guess I promised her then too," Chad smiled, "I wouldn't be a good boyfriend if I let you go through this nightmare alone."

Taylor smiled in response, "you're amazing you know that."

Chad took Taylor's hand and kissed it, "you're more amazing than me."

In that moment Taylor knew that as difficult as the summer was going to be it would all be worth it with Chad by her side.

A/N: Lyrics from: lyrics/h/high_school_musical_2/work_this_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The following morning Taylor decided that she would make the best of the summer, her first with a boyfriend. Mr Fulton and Sharpay weren't going to ruin her summer if she could help it.

With a newfound excitement for what the summer was bound to bring her way, Taylor prepared for her first full day of work at the Lava Springs country club.

As if on queue, as soon as Taylor had put her shoes on, the doorbell rang making Taylor jump a little in surprise.

Chad was stood at the front door to the McKessie household waiting for Taylor when the door opened to reveal Hailey.

"Um hi," Chad said uncertainly.

"Hey Chad, Tay's just grabbing her bag, she shouldn't be too long," Hailey said.

"I thought that you were only here for the weekend?" Chad questioned uncertainly.

"Oh right, yeah I was but then I decided to extend my trip. All of my classes have finished until fall anyway so I figured why not spend some quality time with my family," Hailey explained.

"Ready to go?" Taylor asked as she came up behind her sister.

"Uh yeah," Chad said.

Taylor gave him a quizzical look as she hugged her sister before taking Chad's hand and getting in his Dad's car.

"Are you okay?" Taylor mouthed to Chad as his Dad drove off towards the country club.

"Yeah," Chad mouthed back.

Taylor wasn't convinced.

Chad could tell so he grabbed his phone and texted Taylor, he didn't want his Dad listening in to their conversation.

'Why is your sister still here?' Chad texted.

'She's thinking about leaving college to take classes at U of A to become a teacher. Why is that making you nervous?' Taylor responded.

'I thought that she had left that's all,' Chad responded.

'Do you know something that I don't?' Taylor texted.

'I overheard Zeke mention something about your sister that he heard from his brother, they were at college together,' Chad responded reluctantly.

'What did you hear?' Taylor questioned.

'That she was kicked out for throwing a massive party and that she was locked in a cell for damage to property. Zeke's brother paid her bail under the condition that she come home and sort herself out,' Chad explained.

Taylor looked shocked at the news, she had always admired her sister and to hear that she was kicked out of college was unnerving. The more that Taylor thought about it though, the more that she realised that it wasn't the first time that Hailey had done something so reckless. Her sister does have a criminal record for multiple charges, nothing that had her locked up but enough that their parents can no longer be her lawyers for fear of being charged themselves for constantly getting their daughter off on warnings or the like.

Taylor sighed and texted Chad back when he looked at her worriedly, 'Hailey has been arrested before for similar instances. I just thought that when she decided to be a lawyer herself that she had changed, I guess not. I'm not upset or anything, just disappointed that she felt like she couldn't tell me.'

'She probably just didn't want to let you down,' Chad texted back.

'I know,' Taylor responded.

Chad gently squeezed Taylor's hand to reassure her.

"You two are awfully quiet this morning," John commented, making the couple jump a little.

"Just trying to think positively about what today will bring, in terms of the rest of the summer," Taylor smiled.

"Yeah, yesterday didn't go as planned but thinking positively about how we can turn it all around," Chad added.

"Good to hear. You can't give up after only a small taste. Besides if you can handle working for people who work for Sharpay Evans you can work for anyone in the big world," John reminded them.

"That's very true Mr Danforth," Taylor agreed.

"Taylor how many times do I have to tell you, you can call me John. There's no need for formalities," John smiled.

Taylor laughed softly, "I know it's just a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. My parents raised me to always address an adult as Mr, Mrs or Miss. It's a hard habit to let go of."

"I understand sweety as long as you're aware that it's not going to offend me if you use my first name," John said simply.

Taylor nodded and smiled, "thank you."

Chad let go of Taylor's hand as the car came to a stop out front of the country club, which happened to be situated pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Chad climbed out and quickly made his way to Taylor's side to open the door for her, she smiled gratefully at him.

"Thanks Dad, see you tonight," Chad said as he retook Taylor's hand and they rushed into the building, heading straight for the kitchen.

They both clocked in and smiled at the clock, they were early. Plenty of time to have a quick breakfast, which Zeke was already serving up for the other wildcats.

Taylor grabbed her clipboard to check out the day's activities that she was in charge of while Chad went to Zeke to get them both some breakfast.

Taylor's clipboard had a timetable of the day's events and below it was a sign up sheet for the Lava Springs talent show. Taylor smiled as she read the information sheet that she would have to give to each person or group that she managed to get to sign up.

Chad came to sit beside her in the employee break room placing a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast in front of her.

"What are you smiling about?" Chad asked as he smiled himself.

Taylor's smile was infectious, at least that was what Chad told his friends when they teased him.

"The employees are allowed to perform in the talent show at the end of the summer," Taylor explained.

They could hear a piano in the dining room and shook their heads good-naturedly.

"I bet you anything that's Kelsi writing a song for Troy and Gabriella to sing in the talent show," Taylor grinned.

Chad chuckled, "I'd be foolish to take that bet, of course that's what she's doing."

After eating their breakfast Chad took their plates over to Jason to be washed. At the same moment Troy and Gabriella arrived, with ten minutes to spare before their shifts began. Taylor was sat in the corner of the break room reading through her day's duties and didn't notice when Troy and Gabriella clocked in, metres away from her.

Chad watched as the couple heard Kelsi's music and disappeared into the dining room before he returned to Taylor.

"Well I guess we're about to find out," Chad smiled.

"Find out what?" Taylor asked distractedly.

"Troy and Gabriella, they literally just arrived, they just went into the dining room. Probably heard Kelsi like we did. Probably going to sing the song that's she writing for them," Chad reminded Taylor.

"Huh? Oh, right, sorry. Yes, yes I'm sure you're right," Taylor quickly tried to cover up that she hadn't been paying much attention.

Chad just shook his head, "so what's got you so intrigued that you can't even pay attention to your boyfriend?"

Taylor smiled sweetly at him, "I was reading the rules and regulations for the talent show."

"And?" Chad asked.

"And, the employees get to be in it if they choose to be," Taylor began before she read the rules, "employees of Lava Springs country club are welcome to participate in the end of summer talent show which will be held in the stage area blah blah blah. Any employee wishing to be a part of the event will require written consent from the Lava Springs board. This consent can be obtained by the employee(s) working their required shifts without complaints, if they are not reported to the board for anything negative, if they are not highlighted by guests in a negative light. Consent can also be obtained by the recommendation of the employee(s) manager. It then goes on to list the names of the manager for each department. However if the employee is required by the board to work on the night of the talent show they will automatically be withdrawn from the event. As always the talent show is of no importance to employee(s) who choose to be apart of the event, your work must come first. If any employee(s) who are signed up to be apart of the event are found to be rehearsing their act during their scheduled work time they will automatically be removed from the talent show. For any queries regarding this information please speak to Mr Fulton in your own time, not during your working hours."

"That's a lot of rules," Zeke said.

When Taylor had started telling Chad the rules and regulations Zeke, Jason, and Martha had come over to listen in.

"Are we going to do it?" Martha questioned.

"If Troy does I'm sure we all can," Chad decided.

"Kelsi already said that she would make it work for all of us to be involved in the number," Taylor smiled.

"Since when?" Jason asked.

"Last night, she was writing a song for Troy and Gabriella and told me that she would make it possible for everyone to be apart of their performance," Taylor explained, "I hadn't realised that she had been talking about the talent show though."

They all listened as they heard the music and their friends singing get louder.

"Let's go check it out," Zeke grinned.

They all headed to the dining room, Taylor still holding the clipboard with the signup sheet secured as the top page. As much as Taylor wasn't a fan of performing, she was excited about being apart of the talent show with her new group of friends. For so long Taylor had been the outcast, the smart girl, the club president for a lot of the clubs at East High. When Gabriella came to East High that all changed. Now she couldn't imagine her life without these amazing people by her side.

Taylor slowly opened the dining room door as Troy and Gabriella kept singing. When they reached a certain point Kelsi waved the wildcats into the room. Taylor smiled at her friends as they all walked in and stood around the piano. Martha and Jason held onto one copy of the lyrics while Taylor held the other and showed Zeke and Chad who stood behind Taylor with an arm secured to her hip. Taylor leaned back into Chad slightly as they sung along with the lyrics. Chad had managed to block Zeke's view of said lyrics and was now looking at the sheet that Martha and Jason were looking at.

Taylor smiled at Chad as she sang the words 'you are the music in me'.

It might have only just entered her thought process but those words definitely apply to her and Chad, from Taylor's perspective at least.

Chad smiled down at Taylor as he also sang those words to her.

Kelsi had done it again, she had written the perfect song for Troy and Gabriella that was relatable to Taylor and Chad as well.

As they sung the last notes Taylor and Martha put the lyrics back down onto the piano.

They all cheered when Troy and Gabriella had finished singing.

"Aw I love that song," Gabriella gushed as she and Troy moved to stand on either side of Kelsi.

"Great job Kels," Troy agreed.

"I've got the talent show sign up sheet right here," Taylor said to Troy as she held out her clipboard, "are you in?"

Troy sighed as he looked at his friends expectant faces, "maybe we can work this out. But only," Troy pulled Chad towards him, "if we're all in this together."

Chad didn't look exactly thrilled about that idea but he saw how excited Taylor was and he couldn't let her down.

The excitement amongst the group was obvious as Kelsi explained how amazing it would be.

"This is going to be fantastic," Kelsi began as Troy filled out the signup sheet for the wildcats, "I'll coordinate rehearsals to coincide with all our schedules. Before work, during lunch, and after work."

Chad looked at Taylor uncertainly, the last thing that he wanted to do on his summer vacation was rehearse for a show. When he looked at Taylor though, just like before, his uncertainty slipped, he could tell that Taylor really wanted to be apart of the show so he would do it, only for Taylor though. If Taylor didn't do the show then neither would he.

Taylor smiled as Troy handed the clipboard back to her with 'The Wildcats' listed on the signup sheet.

"Now we just have to get written approval from the board," Martha sighed.

"We'll get it. As long as we keep our heads down and work we'll be fine. They can't stop us from being apart of the talent show just because Sharpay doesn't like us. After all she hates everyone in this room apart from Troy and we're all here. She obviously doesn't have that much power otherwise something tells me we wouldn't be here right now," Taylor explained.

"Taylor's right as long as we don't go against their crazy rules we'll be able to participate," Zeke smiled.

"What are you talking about? Why do we need consent?" Troy questioned.

"It's in the rules and regulations. The board has to approve employee entrants to be apart of the talent show," Chad explained.

Taylor removed one of the 'rules and regulations' information sheets from her clipboard and handed it to Troy, "you might want to read this."

Troy sighed, "I guess it's not as easy to get into a talent show as it is to get into a school musical."

"It'll be worth it, we can make it work," Gabriella decided determinedly.

"We better start work before Fulton comes and our chances are gone before they've even begun," Jason said.

In agreeance they all left Kelsi in the dining room.

Chad and Troy put on their aprons and headed into the breakfast room which was another room off from the dining room, it was set up for the sole purpose of providing guests with a buffet breakfast. They piled all of the plates, cutlery, and cups that they could into a tub.

Meanwhile Taylor and Gabriella left the kitchen and headed towards the pool, Gabriella was on lifeguard duty and Taylor was in charge of children's activities.

"I'll find you around lunch?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella nodded, "then you can tell me about your date last night," Gabriella winked.

Taylor laughed, "and you can tell me about yours."

"Deal," Gabriella laughed.

The two girls went their separate ways when they spotted a group of kids waiting by a sign in the grass that read 'Kids Club meeting area' underneath that was a list of times that kids could join in. Taylor sighed, it was going to be a long day.

The first group started at 9:30, the second group would join or replace the first at 12:00, the third and final group would join or replace them at 15:00. Taylor would get a lunch break at 1:00 when the kids would be treated to lunch in the kids dining room with Martha and Jason.

It hadn't been easy but Gabriella had managed to convince Mr Fulton to let her have her lunch break at the same time. Turns out after countless listing of reasons all Gabriella had to say was that there wouldn't be any kids near the pool in the timeframe because they would be having lunch at the same time therefore someone with less experience would be able to handle the pool for an hour without a problem.

Taylor walked over to the kids, "hi everyone. Are you ready to have some fun?"

Some of the kids squealed with excitement while others didn't look very convinced. Other kids Taylor recognised from yesterday, they were the most excited. Something that Taylor couldn't understand. All she did with the kids yesterday was talk to them and take them on a tour of the country club. The kids had made what should be an easy experience a difficult one.

"Well first I thought we could play some games," Taylor smiled.

"Can we play twister?" "Can we play jump rope?" "Can we play tennis?" "Can we play basketball?" "Can we play dodgeball?"

Taylor raised her hand to get the kids to stop requesting games, they went silent a lot quicker than Taylor had expected them to.

"Okay. Now I appreciate your suggestions but I have a list of suggestions here. This list does include twister if you all agree," Taylor said.

There were a lot of nods of agreement, although a few of the kids groaned at the idea.

Taylor just smirked, these kids had no idea what they were about to be trying.

"Alright before we do go I need you all to form a line and tell me your name, I don't want any of you wondering off and if you do you can guarantee that you will not be welcome back here, including your families," Taylor said firmly.

It wasn't entirely true but if the kids did wander off they were no longer Taylor's responsibility, according to Mr Fulton they would then become the country club's responsibility. Taylor assumed that that rule had come into play when Sharpay and Ryan were little.

After taking their names Taylor led the kids over to a large blowup version of a twister mat. It was like the bouncy bottom part of a bouncy castle with walls around it.

All of the kids who were originally against playing twister were now completely on board with the idea. Taylor couldn't help but grin, she had managed to make her own life easier by getting all of the kids to agree to do the same thing. The last thing she wanted was to spend the morning listening to the kids arguing over what they wanted to play.

It was 11:55 when Taylor had to pull the kids away from their game of twister to go back to the kids club meeting point. Six more kids joined her group from that point. Three of the kids from the first group were meant to go with their parents but they begged to stay with the group, Taylor had promised that they would return to the twister board after getting the new recruits. With Taylor's assurance that it was okay the parents agreed. The group went from 18 kids to 24 as Taylor added their names to the list.

They headed back to the twister board to the excitement of all 24 children.

At 12:55 Taylor led the kids to the kids dining room where Martha and Jason had just finished setting up for their buffet lunch. All of the kids were excited to eat and listened carefully to Martha as she explained how their lunch hour was going to go. All except one two year old who had been attached to Taylor all morning, she refused to play twister and now she didn't want to let go of Taylor's leg.

"Kailey, hunny, you have to let go. It's lunch time. I'll be back in an hour," Taylor tried to reason.

The toddler still wouldn't let go.

Jason came over and knelt next to Kailey, "do you like chocolate?"

Kailey nodded vigorously.

Jason chuckled, "if you let go of Taylor's leg and behave like a good little girl I'll give you some."

Kailey hesitated but then took Jason's outstretched hand.

Taylor smiled gratefully at Jason before heading towards the kitchen.

Gabriella was sitting in the employee break room with some sandwiches when Taylor walked in.

"What do you want today Tay?" Zeke called across the room.

"Just tomato and lettuce please Zeke," Taylor responded.

"Coming right up," Zeke smiled as he made Taylor's sandwiches.

"How's your morning been?" Gabriella asked.

"Actually quite easy. The kids love the blowup twister game that Mr Fulton had Jason setup. There is one little girl, Kailey, who refuses to leave my side, Jason had to bribe her so that I could come to lunch," Taylor explained.

"That's adorable Tay, you've got an admirer," Gabriella teased.

Taylor laughed, "so it would seem. How was your morning?"

"Better than Troy and Chad's," Gabriella laughed.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked.

"They had to caddy for Sharpay's family today, didn't you get like a hundred messages from Chad about it?" Gabriella explained.

"Oh, that's why my phone kept going off. I had to ignore it cause of my 'admirer'," Taylor smiled.

After lunch Taylor had to try to convince the kids to do anything other than twister, none of them were willing to though so she took them back. Her group went from 24 to 32 children at 3pm. By that point Taylor had split the kids into two groups, while one group played twister the other had the option to colour, draw or talk amongst themselves after thirty minutes they switched. At 4:55 Taylor led the kids back to the kids club meeting spot, there were too many kids to take them into the country club reception area.

When she was finally kid free at 5:20 Taylor headed into the kitchen to find Chad sat on a chair with his feet in a bucket full of ice and water, Troy was holding an ice pack to his shoulder.

"What happened to you?" Taylor asked worriedly as she approached Chad.

"Sharpay," Troy responded simply.

"Ah, that's right Gabi said you were caddy's for her family today," Taylor smirked, "a bit worse for wear Chad?"

"Not funny Tay, I can play basketball, baseball, even do track and field but this this was painful," Chad informed.

Taylor kissed his cheek, "you'll survive."

They heard footsteps and Taylor immediately moved away from Chad, something told her that kissing her boyfriend would get her a strike.

Kelsi poured more ice into the bucket for Chad.

"Next time I see country club princess I'm going to launch her and her pink cart straight into the lake," Chad said in annoyance.

Taylor rolled her eyes as she tried to look busy.

"I'll build the ramp buddy," Troy said as he tapped Chad's shoulder.

Mr Fulton walked in carrying a suit, "Danforth this is a kitchen NOT a day spa. You and Jason suit up for dinner duty in the dining room."

Jason walked over to Chad as Troy walked over to Mr Fulton.

"Bolton you have five minutes to change and come with me," Mr Fulton said firmly as he handed the suit to Troy, "In case you're not familiar with this particular item it goes around your neck, like a uh dog collar. Chop chop."

Mr Fulton followed Troy out of the room as Taylor walked back over to Chad.

"What's going on there?" Taylor asked.

"I'm going to say it has something to do with Sharpay and her father. She spent the whole day trying to trick her Dad into helping Troy with college. I'm assuming that he listened," Chad explained.

"This isn't going to end well for someone. Probably Gabriella," Taylor sighed.

"We'll work it out," Chad said softly as he got out of the footbath.

"You're starting to sound like Troy," Taylor teased.

"Looks like after fifteen years he's rubbing off on me," Chad laughed.

"We should get going," Jason said.

Chad sighed, "yeah I know give me five minutes."

Jason rolled his eyes and walked over to the employee change room to get changed into the appropriate attire for dinner duty.

Chad hugged Taylor tightly and kissed her forehead, "I'll meet you outside back here in an hour?"

Taylor nodded, "I'll call your Dad and let him know."

Chad frowned, "actually he's probably already here. Do me a favour and don't go find him on your own, take Gabi with you."

"Chad it's a two minute walk I'll be fine," Taylor sighed.

"Please for me," Chad smiled sweetly.

Taylor nodded, "yeah, okay I'll take Gabi. I'll see you in an hour."

Chad kissed her forehead again and then went to get changed.

Taylor sighed and walked out to the pool area where she knew Gabi would be.

"Hey Gabi, I have a very overprotective boyfriend," Taylor said as she approached.

Gabriella laughed, "what's he done now?"

"He has to work at least another hour for dinner duty and his father is probably already waiting for us in the parking lot. I have to go and let him know but Chad doesn't want me going alone," Taylor explained.

"I'll make you a deal, I'll go with you if you promise to help me tidy up afterwards," Gabriella decided.

"Deal," Taylor smiled.

The two girls easily found Chad's Dad.

"Hey Taylor, where's the boy?" John joked.

Taylor laughed, "he's still got at least an hour left to work. I think Sharpay's parents are to blame."

"Ah so you're the bearer of bad news," John teased, "well I might as well go get a coffee or something. Get Chad to text me when you're ready to leave."

"I will, bye John," Taylor smiled as she and Gabriella headed back to the country club pool.

The two girls spent the next hour cleaning up around the pool.

Chad came out to the pool at the hour mark, "you ready to go?"

Taylor smirked at him, "you look like you had a fun night. I'll come clock out with you and then you can call your Dad to let him know we're ready, then I'll help Gabi finish cleaning up."

Chad agreed easily enough.

Gabriella kept collecting the towels while the couple headed towards the kitchen to clock out.

"I'll tell you about it later, not here," Chad said simply.

"I wasn't going to ask," Taylor promised.

After they clocked out in silence Chad walked to the parking lot while Taylor headed back to Gabriella. She knew that something serious must have happened to make Chad act coldly towards her.

The two girls looked up as they saw Troy come running out of the club and towards them.

"Sorry I'm late, give me two more minutes," Troy said slightly out of breath.

"Nice tie," Gabriella said by way of forgiving him, "your shoes don't match though, hehe kidding."

"Huh," Troy laughed as he ran away.

Gabriella turned back to putting the towels in a basket.

Taylor walked over to her carrying a towel, "hunny, two minutes is being late. But an hour is approaching a felony. Just because Troy's a nice guy doesn't mean he's immune to boy disease."

"Boy disease?" Gabriella asked giddily.

"Yeah," Taylor smiled widely, "forgetting things they shouldn't forget."

"So now you're a boy expert?" Gabriella teased.

Taylor laughed, "my older sister has ten rules about boy behaviour and nine of them involve boys forgetting things they should never forget, like dinner dates."

Gabriella's smile softened, as did Taylor's, as she spoke, "well it wasn't an official date type of thing."

Taylor shook her head and a finger, "rule number three, all dates are official. Whether the boy knows it or not."

Gabriella laughed.

Chad came back over to them, "Dad's here."

Taylor hugged Gabriella and then followed Chad to his Dad's car.

When they got to Taylor's house Chad convinced his Dad to let him stay the night. Taylor's parents had gone away for work so it was just her and her sister. John had no problem agreeing as long as Hailey could take them to the country club the following morning. Taylor assured him that she would.

They grabbed their bags and headed inside.

After getting Hailey to agree to take them to work the following morning Taylor and Chad headed to Taylor's room.

After Chad told Taylor about his day she felt like she wanted to punch Sharpay in her pretty little face. Taylor and Sharpay had a long history that stemmed back to grade 2. It was an ugly year for both of them. They had been best friends in grade 1 then everything changed the following year when Sharpay was cast in her first performance.

Taylor and Chad spent the night talking, it was 2am before they finally fell asleep curled up together.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The following morning Taylor and Chad were woken by Hailey yelling at them to get up.

"COME ON YOU TWO, RISE AND SHINE! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" Hailey shouted as she jumped on Taylor's bed for emphasis.

It didn't take long for the couple to jump up and quickly get ready for work.

Ten minutes later Taylor and Chad ran down the stairs to see Hailey waiting for them.

They all got into Hailey's car and headed to the country club.

"Staff baseball game after work, you still in?" Jackson, one of the full-time employees of the country club asked.

Chad nodded, "yeah absolutely man."

"Awesome, it'll be you wildcats against us actual employees," Jackson chuckled.

"Game on," Chad said then he smirked, "WHAT TEAM?"

The wildcats in the kitchen grinned, "WILDCATS!"

"WHAT TEAM?"

"WILDCATS!"

"WILDCATS!"

"GETCHA HEAD IN THE GAME!"

The full-time Lava Springs nodded their approval at the team spirit that the summer employees had.

Taylor smiled lovingly at Chad before they both clocked in and headed in different directions.

The first thing that Taylor planned for the kids that morning was a stroll around the grounds, the older kids had wanted to know more about the activities and things that you could do at the club. Seeing as they spent the entire previous day doing something 'fun' Taylor decided that doing something 'educational' would be a good idea.

"Okay you know the drill though, we aren't going anywhere until you all give me your names, then we'll go for a walk around the place, starting with the pool area," Taylor said.

The kids got into a single file line and told Taylor their names, Taylor wrote their names down and led the kids to the pool area where Gabriella was teaching water aerobics.

"Alright kids now the pool area is my favourite part of the country club, we're going to watch the water aerobics for a minute and maybe join in," Taylor explained while she waited for Troy to leave.

The kids nodded.

"Okay now some jumping jacks," Gabriella said as she demonstrated.

Taylor copied her movements and the kids did the same.

"Hey, what's she up to?" Taylor asked Gabriella who turned to face her.

The two girls looked to the window where Sharpay was standing.

"Who knows?" Gabriella sighed.

"Believe me she does," Taylor sighed.

"What are you doing with the kids today?" Gabriella asked.

"Well Tyler here suggested that we take a walk around the club, the other older kids agreed so I figured we'd start here," Taylor said as she indicated Tyler who was stood directly behind her.

"Nice, where's your admirer?" Gabriella teased.

"She'll probably be here in the next group. Who knows maybe I'll be able to walk freely today," Taylor laughed.

Gabriella turned back to the class and had them do a freestyle stroke to stretch their arm muscles. Taylor had the kids do the same thing.

"Well I guess I better take this lot for the next part of the tour, the kitchen," Taylor smirked.

"Tay, are they even allowed in there?" Gabriella laughed.

"Well I spoke to Zeke when we got here and he said that he would make cupcakes if I could bring the kids to him. They probably still aren't allowed but I can spin it to make Mr Fulton realise that it's a good idea," Taylor smiled.

"Devious," Gabriella laughed, "see you later?"

"You bet," Taylor smiled.

Taylor led the kids to the kitchen, "okay now we're about to enter a room that no guests are allowed to go into. Luckily for you one of my dear friends works in this particular area and he has a special treat for you all," Taylor informed them, "to the kitchen we go."

The kids grinned and squealed in excitement.

Taylor led the kids into the kitchen and smiled when she saw all her friends, except Gabriella and Troy, were there.

Zeke had set up a table filled with cupcakes for the kids.

"Okay kids, Zeke here is a marvelous baker and he made these cupcakes especially for you," Taylor smiled, Zeke put an arm around Taylor's shoulders.

"Taylor told me you all like sweets, I like making sweets so I figured I'd do something special for you all. Especially because you were all well-behaved yesterday," Zeke said.

"You can each take ONE," Taylor emphasised as the kids started to get jumpy with excitement.

The 18 kids each took one cupcake.

Chad sidled up beside Taylor as Zeke moved to talk to the kids about what they were eating, how he had made the cupcakes.

"Troy got a promotion," Chad whispered to Taylor as he wrapped an arm around her.

"What?!" Taylor whisper yelled in response.

"Troy is now a puppet for Sharpay's family. He now teaches golf to kids. He's getting a salary not clocked hours. Whatever strings that Sharpay is pulling are definitely helping Troy," Chad sighed.

"Don't let it get to you. He's still your best friend Chad. Everything will work out," Taylor said gently.

"I hope you're right," Chad said simply.

After allowing the kids to have one more cupcake each Taylor led them out of the kitchen and towards the driving range. Some of the kids parents had signed them up to learn how to play golf and it was Taylor's job to get those kids to the range in time for their lessons.

Taylor spotted Troy when they got there.

"Hey Tay," Troy smiled.

"Hey Troy, I have some students for you, ten to be exact," Taylor smiled.

Troy smiled at the kids, "awesome. Why don't you all go and choose a place and start hitting some golf balls. I'll come help you in a moment."

"So you got a fancy promotion," Taylor said.

Troy nodded, "yeah I did. Mr Fulton even said these are Italian shoes."

Taylor raised an eyebrow, "just don't let the special treatment go to your head."

"Don't worry, I won't," Troy said confidently.

Taylor just nodded uncertainly and led her remaining eight kids out of the way to chat to them.

"Are any of you interested in learning how to play golf?" Taylor asked curiously.

Five of the kids, two girls and three boys, raised their hands.

"Well my friend Troy over there is the new instructor. Troy has been playing golf, along with basketball, for the last six years. He's the best player I know, of golf that is," Taylor informed them.

"Miss Taylor, what about basketball?" Tyler asked.

Taylor smiled, "Troy might be the captain but he's not the best player in my eyes. My boyfriend Chad Danforth is, he's also co-captain of the East High Wildcats. Chad gets the team fired up before every game."

"I know him, he's awesome! My Dad took me to watch him play once. He plays baseball too! Can I get an autograph?" Ten year old Ben asked excitedly.

Taylor smiled, "I can definitely arrange that Ben."

"Me too!" Three of the other boys begged.

Taylor laughed, "okay I'll make you a deal. While you're all at lunch I'll get autographs for you from three Wildcat players."

The five boys were clearly excited as they watched Troy teach golf.

Taylor frowned as she watched Sharpay get out of her golf cart, she wondered why she was there and nearly laughed at herself, of course Sharpay was wherever Troy was this summer.

"This is for you, Mr Fulton wants you to carry it around so that parents can easily find where their kids are and others can drop their kids with you whenever they please," one of the employees said to Taylor as he handed her a plastic orange flag on a plastic orange stick.

Taylor just nodded, "okay, sure, thanks."

Taylor was trying to hear what Sharpay and Troy were talking about but with the sound of swinging golf clubs she couldn't hear anything. Taylor decided to walk closer to them in hopes of hearing their conversation. The kids followed suit.

Taylor shook her head as she heard Troy asking Sharpay about his 'Italian shoes'. What was with his sudden obsession with his shoes? Taylor couldn't understand it.

Taylor led the kids to the kids dining room before getting on her club appointed golf cart to find Gabriella.

It didn't take long. Gabriella was standing near one of the entrances, Chad had just arrived beside her as well.

"Hey Gab," Chad smiled.

"Hey," Gabriella smiled in return.

The two moved closer to see the scene in front of them. Troy was teaching Sharpay how to play golf.

"That girls got more moves than an octopus in a wrestling match," Taylor said as she came to stand between the two.

"Eh, he knows how to swim," Chad smiled.

"Yeah, Troy can handle himself," Gabriella agreed.

"I did overhear him asking her opinion on his new Italian golf shoes," Taylor admitted.

That had both Gabriella and Chad feeling uncertain.

"He didn't ask me," Gabriella said softly.

"So wake up sister! She's basically offering him a college education just to sing with her in the talent show," Taylor pointed out.

"Troy would never do that," Chad tried to convince them.

"You got eyes, use them," Taylor said.

Taylor wasn't trying to be mean, she just hated seeing the two people that she cared about the most getting hurt without them even knowing it. It was obvious that they were both trying to ignore what was clearly right in front of them. Taylor had been hurt by Sharpay more times than she cared to admit and didn't want her loved ones to experience the same pain that she had because of Sharpay. If it took being harsh for them to realise it then Taylor would be harsher.

"Let's go eat," Gabriella decided with a smile as she looked at Taylor.

Taylor nodded.

"Yeah I gotta go," Chad said, "hey see you later?" He asked Taylor.

Taylor smiled, "okay," she said in a slightly higher pitched voice than normal.

"Okay," Chad responded as he walked away.

It made no sense to Taylor how she could still be nervous around Chad, especially after last night, they slept in the same bed cuddling together. She supposed that it was something that happened when you were truly in love with someone but you didn't know how to tell them. At least that was what Taylor hoped.

Taylor watched Sharpay for a minute after Troy left the scene, she hit the golf ball with perfect precision. Taylor shook her head and put her hand on her hip, typical Sharpay move, get the boy to think she's totally innocent and get everything that she wants.

Taylor sighed and headed to the kitchen where Gabriella was already sitting with sandwiches and packets of chips for each of them.

"Thanks for getting me food," Taylor smiled.

"No problem. Zeke had already made our sandwiches, I just had to get the chips," Gabriella responded with a smile.

Taylor sat down and started eating.

Moments later Chad stormed into the kitchen with a plate in his hand.

Taylor watched him worriedly, he clearly didn't look happy.

"Zeke," Chad snapped.

Zeke was standing near him, "yep."

"Troy wants swiss," Chad snapped as he handed the plate to Zeke.

"Coming right up," Zeke said as he walked away with the plate to fix the burger.

Chad stormed over to where Taylor and Gabriella were sat in the employee break room.

"You know you were right," Chad said to Taylor, "there's a guy out there who looks just like Troy Bolton but I have no idea who he really is."

Chad pulled a chair up to sit between Taylor and Gabriella.

Taylor moved her food over so that Chad could have some. Chad gladly took one half of a sandwich.

This is what Taylor had been trying to avoid. She had tried to warn them. Now Chad was hurt and she had no idea what the news was doing to Gabriella. All she knew was that Troy was ruining the two relationships that he claimed meant the most to him.

Taylor just hoped that maybe Troy would come to his senses and fix his relationships before it was too late.

"We still have the games after work. Maybe he'll be social then," Gabriella tried to reason.

"Maybe," Taylor said, although it wasn't very convincing.

Zeke finished remaking the burger and handed it to Chad.

"Don't do anything stupid," Taylor said as Chad's facial expression was clearly showing his anger still.

"Chad," Taylor warned.

He still didn't respond nor change his expression.

Taylor sighed, this wasn't how she had wanted this moment to go but she had a feeling it was necessary to save Chad from himself.

Taylor stood up, handed the plate back to Zeke and leaned up to be face-to-face with Chad.

After hesitating for a second Taylor leaned into Chad, their lips met in a soft, sweet kiss. Their first kiss. After the initial shock Chad pulled Taylor closer to him.

Zeke, Gabriella, Martha, and Jason whistled and cheered along with the other wildcats.

Taylor slowly pulled away and Chad slowly let her. Their foreheads were still touching as smiles spread across their faces. It might not have been the most romantic moment but it was still special.

"Try not to kill Troy now," Taylor teased.

Chad chuckled, "yeah I'll try."

The two pulled apart completely and smiled at their staring friends.

Chad took the plate back from Zeke, "see you later cutie," he said to Taylor before he headed back to the balcony dining area.

Taylor sat back down beside Gabriella and the two squealed slightly in excitement.

Martha rushed over to them.

"Tay wow, that was, that was your first kiss right?" Martha asked.

Taylor nodded as she bit her lower lip, "yeah."

"How was it?" Gabriella questioned.

"It was, pretty amazing," Taylor gushed.

The three girls squealed again.

"Hey Tay, shouldn't you go back to the kids?" Zeke asked.

Taylor looked at her watch and quickly stood up, "I'll find you before the baseball game," she said to Gabriella before hurrying off to the kids dining room.

"Alright kids it's time to go back and find your parents," Taylor said to the kids two and a half hours later.

The group of 28 kids groaned.

Taylor laughed, "I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Can we play twister?" An eight year old girl named Talia asked.

Taylor smiled, "I suppose I can make that happen."

That earned her lots of cheering.

Taylor shook her head as she led the group over to the kids club meeting area where most of the parents were already gathered.

By 5:30 Taylor had managed to send all of the kids back to their parents.

Taylor then went to get her golf cart and drove it around to the employee entrance at the side of the country club. She got out and went to get changed before getting back in the golf cart and driving around to try and find Gabriella.

When she did find Gabriella it was obvious that something had happened. When Taylor had left her after lunch Gabriella had been smiling and happy. Now she looked hurt and disappointed.

"What happened?" Taylor asked as she pulled up beside Gabriella.

"Troy isn't going to be playing at the game. He went to play with the Red Hawks," Gabriella explained.

Taylor shrugged, "it's his loss Gabi. Come on, don't let Troy ruin the excitement you felt about the game this morning."

Gabriella nodded and began to smile, "you're right. Troy's doing his own thing, I can do my own thing too. It's not like we're joined at the hip."

Taylor smiled, "well come on, hop on, we've got a game to get to."

Gabriella laughed and jumped in the passenger seat of the golf cart.

Taylor drove them around to the other side of the country club as they laughed and talked.

"Any idea when they decided on this game today? This morning Jackson asked Chad if he was still in, I hadn't even heard about it," Taylor asked.

"I only heard about it this morning too," Gabriella admitted.

"Oh well at least we got an invite to watch, go Wildcats," Taylor laughed.

Gabriella shook her head, "you spend way too much time with Chad."

"What do you mean?" Taylor queried.

"Your team spirit," Gabriella laughed.

"Someone has to have team spirit," Taylor teased, "besides I'm so excited about the game."

Gabriella laughed.

Taylor pulled the golf cart to a stop when they spotted Ryan looking glum.

"Hey Ryan, no rehearsals?" Gabriella asked.

"Ah, my sister is working up something new," Ryan admitted.

Taylor rolled her eyes, of course Sharpay would choose Troy over her own brother, she could see that that was what Ryan was not telling them.

"So you coming to the baseball game?" Gabriella asked.

Both girls could tell that he wanted to.

"I'm not staff, wasn't invited," Ryan admitted before he turned to walk away.

Taylor pulled the golf cart up beside Ryan again.

"Hey, everyone's invited," Gabriella said, "come on hop in."

Taylor smiled in agreement with Gabriella, Ryan wasn't a bad guy. They used to be friends before Sharpay let 'fame' go to her head and she dragged Ryan down with her a few years later.

"Alright," Ryan agreed as he climbed on the back.

Taylor smiled widely she was glad to have her friend back, at least partially.

"Hang on," Taylor said as she drove off, "weeee."

Gabriella laughed at her friends antics.

Ryan just smiled, it felt nice to be included again. He missed hanging out with his old friends.

Taylor pulled onto the dirt track that led straight into the baseball field.

"Hey Martha, hey Kels," Taylor said as the two girls came rushing over to them.

They followed the cart as Taylor drove right up to the home plate.

All the while the girls giggled and Taylor pressed the small horn on the wheel, "beep beep," she said as she pulled the cart to a stop on the home plate.

Ryan looked like he was having a lot of fun.

"What did Fulton send you out here to spy on us?" Chad asked Ryan before he could even get out of the cart.

"Nah my sister did, she thinks you guys are going to upstage her talent show," Ryan admitted.

"Oh no worries," Zeke spoke, "we were going to do the show but then Troy bailed on us so whatever."

"What do you mean, whatever?" Gabriella asked them, "it's our summer remember! I thought we decided that doing the show would be fun."

Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi nodded in agreement behind her.

"Well I think so," Martha spoke softly.

"And I do to," Taylor said as she removed her sunglasses and looked at Chad.

"Who are we kidding?" Chad questioned looking straight back at Taylor.

"I don't think so," Zeke agreed.

"We don't know how to put together a show," Jason added.

"Maybe not but he does," Gabriella said as she moved towards Ryan, "if we have a real director put it together it could be great," Gabriella turned towards Ryan, "have the employees ever won a star dazzle award?"

Ryan scoffed, "hey now."

"I've seen what you can do Ryan, why not do it for us?" Gabriella asked.

Chad had had enough talk, he wanted to get on with the game and he made his thoughts heard.

"Look if you wanna play ball then grab a mitt but I don't dance," Chad said.

"You don't think dancing takes some game?" Ryan questioned.

Everyone around them laughed, Chad smirked.

"You got game?" Chad asked.

Ryan shrugged, "a little."

Chad nodded, "come on," he murmured to Greg, the guy holding the baseball bat.

Greg tossed the bat in the air and Chad caught a hold of it, as did Ryan who won the grab.

The two teams went to their respective start positions as the girls climbed into Taylor's golf cart. Taylor drove them off of the field and left the golf cart out of the way of the entrance to the field. The girls then moved into the stands where other employees and some members were sat watching.

Taylor smiled as she watched Chad take his place on the home plate.

Taylor proudly watched Chad play, she couldn't believe how talented her boyfriend was.

It was an entertaining game as Ryan tried to convince Chad that he could dance, that baseball required certain movements that flowed together like a dance, that essentially baseball was one big dance.

As Chad slid onto the home plate and was announced safe Taylor let out a little squeal and started to jump up and down with a grin plastered on her face. She was very proud of her boyfriend.

"Hey Evans," Chad called as Ryan started to walk away, "I'm not saying that I'm going to dance in the show but IF I did what would you have me do."

Ryan smiled as he walked off of the field, Gabriella gave him a hug, "you played great."

Ryan chuckled, "thanks."

Taylor smiled as Chad ran off of the field and straight to her. Chad lifted Taylor up and spun her around both of them were grinning.

Once Taylor was back on her feet Chad kissed her softly and soundly.

When they pulled apart Ryan announced that they could use the picnic area that was near the baseball field as the location for the after party.

Taylor and Gabriella took the golf cart back to it's parking spot while the guys plus Martha and Kelsi went to set up the area for a party.

"That was so much fun and such a great game," Taylor gushed.

Gabriella laughed, "you're only happy because your boyfriend managed to bring home a win for us."

Taylor laughed, "yeah, maybe. Wait us? Girl you were supporting one person out there and that person was not a wildcat."

Gabriella mock glared at her friend's teasing, "hey Ryan deserved to have someone in his court for a change. Just because he's Sharpay's brother doesn't mean he's a bad person, people just treat him like he is."

"Believe me Gabi I know what a great guy Ryan is. Unfortunately Sharpay gives him a bad reputation," Taylor sighed.

"Look no more sadness. It was a great win and now we have something to look forward to. We get to be apart of the talent show without Sharpay taking us down," Gabriella smiled.

"I don't know if I'd go that far but yeah it is something to look forward to," Taylor smiled.

The two girls made their way to the parking lot, Gabriella's Mum was dropping off her amazing brownies for the party, after Gabriella had called her Mum in her lunch break her Mum had gotten to work on making the brownies that the girls loved so much. After getting the brownies Taylor and Gabriella made their way over to the picnic area where Martha and Kelsi were waiting for them. Gabriella's Mum had made 22 boxes of brownies, 6 brownies in each box, one each for every player and for the girls. Taylor and Gabriella handed Kelsi and Martha a few of the boxes each to hand out to the players and to keep one for themselves.

Taylor and Gabriella handed some boxes out before turning around to Chad and Ryan who were sat talking. Taylor couldn't help the smile that spread on her face as she watched the two talk, it was like the second grade had never happened.

"Good job," Gabriella said as they stood beside the two boys.

"Nice hat," Taylor commented as she moved Chad's hat slightly.

"Thanks, you know I think it would look great on you," Chad said as he removed the hat and put it on Taylor's head instead.

Taylor laughed and posed as Chad took a picture of her.

"Gorgeous," Chad commented as he showed Taylor the picture.

"Why thank you," Taylor laughed.

Chad pulled her onto his lap as Gabriella placed a box of brownies in front of the three and took her own seat opposite Ryan with her own box of brownies.

"These are amazing," Chad said through a mouthful of his second brownie.

Taylor shut his mouth by forcing it closed with her hand, "don't talk with your mouth full, you're spitting crumbs everywhere."

Chad smiled apologetically.

Taylor just shook her head good-naturedly, "you're hopeless."

"I'm your hopeless," Chad corrected.

Taylor looked thoughtful for a moment, "I may have to reconsider that."

Chad started to tickle her and Taylor squealed as she started laughing and getting out of breath.

"Chad leave the poor girl alone, you're going to make her collapse if she doesn't breathe soon," Ryan said, only half teasingly.

Chad just grinned as he stopped tickling Taylor.

Taylor took a few deep breaths before glaring at Chad.

"You'll regret that," Taylor promised.

"I look forward to it," Chad grinned cheekily.

A/N: I hope you liked the first kiss scene, I figured that something must have happened to turn Chad and Gabriella from being hurt by Troy to being willing to give him another chance. Look out for the next chapter coming soon :-)


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

A/N: Sorry that this chapter took longer than the rest, uni went back last week and was full on. Then I've spent the entire weekend renovating my boyfriend's bedroom, this is the first free moment that I have had to be able to write this. Enjoy :-)

The following morning left the Wildcats in a state of pure happiness, last night had been an amazing night.

They had all had so much fun, not just during the baseball game but afterwards as well.

Taylor found herself looking forward to spending time with the kids that would be under her charge today.

Chad felt like he might actually be able to deal with Sharpay today if he had to.

It was a good day all round.

At least until Troy appeared.

Taylor was stood beside Chad, she knew that she had to go find the kids but she also knew that leaving Chad with Troy might not be the best move, they weren't on the best of terms.

"Chad, just leave it alone today. Don't let him ruin the mood. Please don't do anything stupid," Taylor said gently.

Chad sighed, "I'll leave him alone," Taylor raised an eyebrow, "I promise," Chad smiled.

Taylor nodded, "I'll find you at lunch."

"I'll be here," Chad responded as he pressed a kiss to Taylor's forehead, his eyes never leaving Troy.

Taylor sighed, kissed Chad's cheek, and left the kitchen.

Maybe today wasn't going to be as fun and happy as she had planned.

Taylor was leading her days recruits to the infamous twister game when her phone started ringing, she knew that it must be someone telling her what happened between Chad and Troy after she left.

"Alright you all know the drill. If you're under 10 you get to play twister first, if you're over 10 you get to have a shot at crochet. 10 year olds who were born January through to and including June are in the under 10's group, if you were born July through to and including December you're in the over 10's group," Taylor announced.

There were no complaints from any of the kids as they set about getting into their respective groups and playing their designated games.

Taylor managed to answer her phone just before it rung out.

"Taylor McKessie," she answered not having time to see who was calling.

"Tay, you should know that things got pretty heated between Chad and Troy," Kelsi began.

Martha's voice was heard next, "if Fulton hadn't turned up when he did, Chad might've actually punched Troy. It wasn't good."

"Gabi came in a few minutes after and she looked just as upset as Chad seemed, something must have happened between her and Troy too," Kelsi added.

Taylor sighed, "so much for 'we're all in this together'. I don't even recognise Troy anymore. He was never like this before Gabi came, he was the nice jock who kept mostly to himself and rarely had a bad word to say about anyone. Gabi bought him out of his shell and now it's like Sharpay is trying to take credit for that by turning him into someone that none of us know. I don't know what we're meant to do. Something has to be done though."

"Well maybe we can use the talent show to our advantage?" Martha suggested.

"If Sharpay has her way Troy will be performing with her," Kelsi informed them, "she's already got me transposing the song that I wrote for Gabi and Troy into her key for her and Troy."

"Well we'll have to come up with another song, something more epic, something that only Gabriella and Troy can relate to, something that is totally them and can't be turned around to match Sharpay," Taylor suggested.

"I've been working on something that might just fit that bill, I'll need to adjust it a little but it'll definitely work for Gabi and Troy and not Sharpay," Kelsi grinned.

"Sounds amazing Kels, I've got to go guys the kids are starting to get angry with each other," Taylor sighed, "I'll see you both around lunch."

"See you then," Martha and Kelsi replied just before Taylor hung up.

Taylor rolled her eyes as she saw two of the 12 year olds arguing over how to play crochet.

"Alright you two break it off," Taylor said as she came to stand between the two, "I'll show you how to play if you both stop arguing. That goes for the rest of you as well. Any arguments or fights and I will not allow you to take part in any further activities and I will be informing your parents of your actions at the end of the day. Understood?"

All of the kids quickly nodded their heads in agreement with Taylor's rules.

By the time that lunch came around Taylor was relieved to be rid of the kids. Mrs Evans had organised for another employee to take them for the afternoon as she requested Taylor and Martha to set up for the talent show.

Taylor was only able to have a quick lunch with Martha, she didn't get to see Chad at all, before they had to get to work.

Chad and Jason spent the majority of the morning waiting on guests, thankfully none of them had the last name 'Evans'. Chad and Troy's argument had surprised everyone, especially the team. The idea alone that they were angry with each other was unbelievable, if they hadn't witnessed it they would have said that it was impossible.

Jason was worried about Chad, he barely acknowledged the guests and when he did it was cold and harsh. Chad might not enjoy the job but he had yet to treat the guests badly over it. Jason hoped that seeing Taylor at lunch would brighten Chad's mood. His wish was broken however when they entered the kitchen and Taylor was nowhere in sight.

"Dude, where's Taylor?" Jason whispered to Zeke while Chad sulked over to the table, Jason had said that he would get their lunch.

"She had to help Martha setup for the talent show," Zeke said softly, "why are we whispering?"

"Because Chad's still in a bad mood, I hoped that seeing Taylor would make him feel better, I guess that can't happen now though," Jason sighed.

"Just text Taylor and see if she can spare a minute or two," Zeke suggested.

Jason nodded and immediately began texting Taylor.

Taylor had just finished laying a tablecloth on every table when her phone beeped letting her know that she had a text. Taylor considered ignoring it until Martha told her to check it, it could be about Chad.

Taylor looked around to make sure that no one was around to dob her in to Fulton before she opened her phone.

"It's Jason, apparently Chad is in a foul mood and he thinks that seeing me will fix it," Taylor sighed.

Martha laughed, "he just doesn't want to have to deal with Chad being annoyed all day."

Taylor grinned, "I'm really tempted to let him suffer."

"You won't though because you're worried about Chad," Martha stated.

Taylor nodded, "I'll be back in ten minutes, I'll bring out some flowers for the centrepieces."

"I'll start putting the centrepieces on the tables while you're gone," Martha decided.

Taylor gave her a small, grateful smile before she rushed back into the country club building, heading straight for the kitchen.

When Taylor entered the kitchen she was immediately greeted by Zeke.

"He's over there. Jason's waiting for you, he keeps looking at the door hoping that you'll come swooping in to save him," Zeke chuckled.

Taylor laughed good-naturedly, "thanks Zeke. Hey do you know where the flowers for the centrepieces are?"

"Yeah, Kelsi said that Mrs Evans was keeping them in the dining room until you needed them," Zeke informed.

Taylor smiled, "thank you."

Taylor walked over to the break room to see her boyfriend and Jason, both looking miserable, picking at their lunch.

Jason saw her first and visibly relaxed, "I'll give you two a moment," he said before taking his lunch to eat at the table in the centre of the kitchen.

Chad looked behind him in confusion before he seemed to relax as well.

Taylor smiled at him before sitting by his side.

"Hey," Taylor said softly.

Chad smiled adoringly at her, "hey yourself. I didn't think I'd get to see you."

"I had to get the flowers from the dining room, I figured I could spare a few minutes to see how you are," Taylor admitted.

"I'm fine," Chad shrugged.

"I heard about what happened with Troy," Taylor said.

Chad groaned, "let me guess Martha and Kelsi told you?"

"They knew that I'd want to know. Chad what happened?" Taylor asked uncertainly.

"I don't know Tay," Chad admitted sheepishly, "it was like I saw him and all my annoyance at the guy just erupted. I was just so angry. I don't recognise him anymore. We've been best friends since we were in preschool, I've never seen him act so selfishly. I get that he's worried about his future but since when did that mean blowing his friends off. We're all worried about our futures but we aren't becoming different people in the process."

Taylor gently squeezed Chad's hand, "I wish that I knew what to say. Before last year I spent most of my time on my own, I was only social when it was called for, like scholastic decathalon meetings. Since second grade I gave up on having a best friend. Sharpay taught me not to trust anyone, they would just stab you in the back in the end. She also made me realise that we all belong in a clique and separating from that would be like committing a serious crime. Gabi came along and changed all of that. I mean who knew that Zeke could bake? He's amazing at it yet he never let anyone see that side of him because it was 'wrong'. My point is that trying new things, becoming someone else can be a good thing. Not necessarily the way that Troy is going about it but I do admire him for wanting to work out his future."

Taylor bit her lip hoping that she hadn't overstepped or upset Chad. It wasn't like Taylor agreed with Troy's actions, she was angry with him for it to, but she couldn't let Chad throw away his friendship with Troy so easily. Thanks to Gabriella Taylor knew how important friendships are. Taylor had seen the friendship between Chad and Troy bloom since preschool. She still remembered the first day that they became friends and she knew that they had been like brothers since that day. Taylor just hoped that Troy would realise his mistakes soon before he lost the best friend that he's ever had.

"You're right, he's got every right to work on his future but to leave us out, his team, his friends, the people that trust him, is what gets me angry Tay," Chad said softly.

"I know. I can't think of anything to explain his actions other than that he doesn't realise that he's being a jerk," Taylor admitted.

"It just sucks," Chad sighed.

Taylor pulled him into a tight hug, Chad held onto Taylor tightly not wanting to let her go.

"Sorry to interrupt but Taylor you have to get back to the talent show setup, Mrs Evans wants to have a look at it at 5 and Martha needs your help," Jason said timidly, he didn't really want to interrupt their moment.

Taylor sighed and pulled out of the hug, "don't give up on him just yet. I'll see you after work?"

Chad nodded, "I'll see you then."

They shared a quick chaste kiss before Taylor reluctantly went to retrieve the flowers from the dining room and went back to help Martha.

At exactly 4:58pm Taylor and Martha had finally finished the layout and setup for the tables and chairs for the talent show.

They didn't have any time to relax however because Mrs Evans was approaching them. The sun had just gone down, the only light on the area came from Sharpay's elaborate stage setup and the glow of the candles on the tables. It gave off an eerily calm vibe. Although the words calm and Sharpay should never be used in the same paragraph let alone the same sentence.

"Ladies you have done a lovely job, however I do have some suggestions," Mrs Evans said to Taylor and Martha as they followed her to each table, "table settings nice. Oh. No. No. No."

Mrs Evans said as she handed each of the flower arrangements, 3 of the 4 on the tables, to Taylor and Martha.

"Now that that is fabulous," Mrs Evans emphasized.

Taylor and Martha exchanged a look that clearly said 'okay, clearly Sharpay can't be your daughter you like simplicity'. They both tried not to scowl as the pink glittery devil herself appeared and called out to Troy who they hadn't noticed approaching them.

"Take those back to the dining room, the tables in there could use some colour," Mrs Evans said to Taylor before she approached Troy.

"Everything else looks marvelous," Mrs Evans complimented Taylor and Martha as she reappeared beside them.

Mrs Evans ordered two other employees to help Taylor and Martha return three of the table settings from each of the twenty tables to the tables in the dining room.

Taylor wanted to run onto the stage and drag punch Sharpay for stealing Gabriella's song. Martha noticed this and carefully managed to tap Taylor's shoulder and signal to the building with her head without dropping the two vases in her arms.

Taylor sighed and followed Martha. There was no point in getting angry at Sharpay, besides after having to deal with her being that way since second grade she supposed that she shouldn't really be that surprised by Sharpay's actions.

It took Taylor, Martha, and two other employees thirty minutes to get all of the unwanted table pieces onto the dining room tables. After that Mrs Evans had dismissed the four girls to go home.

Taylor was relieved when she saw Chad waiting for her in the employee locker rooms.

"I'm just going to get changed and then I promise that we can go," Taylor told him.

She didn't bother wasting anytime either, it had been a long stressful day. All Taylor wanted was to go home and sit in her Dad's massage chair and go to sleep. Chad had similar plans except he had his own massage chair.

When Taylor exited the change rooms her and Chad's phones both buzzed to let them know that they had an email.

The email read:

Hey Wildcats and LS employees,

I have finally decided on the choreography for the talent show and have come up with a basic idea for the music. Please meet me in the dance studio at 10am tomorrow morning for a rehearsal. I know that it is the weekend and Wildcats you don't work weekends but I really want to get this started as soon as possible, we only have one more week.

Regards,

Ryan Evans

Taylor and Chad both smiled, they had just been about to discuss their weekend plans only to have them already planned for them.

A/N: I am back at uni and it is (hopefully) my last semester for my course so there will be points when I won't be able to post as often as I have been lately. Please forgive me if it takes a few weeks here and there. Thanks for the continued support :-)


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It was 9am when Chad was woken by his girlfriend Taylor.

His first concern should have been how she got into the house, Chad's parents were away for the weekend and Taylor didn't have a key.

Apparently that wasn't on his mind at that point in time, instead he pulled Taylor onto the bed with him and started tickling her.

Taylor tried not to giggle but she couldn't help it, she was very ticklish after all.

After ten minutes Chad decided to stop and let his poor girlfriend breathe.

"So what brings you here this early on a Saturday morning?" Chad grinned.

Taylor took a deep breath to calm herself before responding, "we have rehearsal for the talent show at 10, remember?"

"Oh, right, that," Chad mumbled as he pulled his pillow over his face.

"You're not going back to sleep Chad. You have to get up and ready Hailey is waiting for us," Taylor said as she ripped the pillow from her boyfriend's arms.

Chad groaned, "can't we just skip it and sleep in?"

"No Chad we can't, we made a commitment. You are getting up NOW! You are the team captain, you have to be a role model. Without you there is no team so get up and get ready you have ten minutes," Taylor said fiercely, when Chad refused to move Taylor got an evil glint in her eyes.

Taylor left the room and returned with her sister.

"You were warned!" Hailey said sharply.

Together Taylor and Hailey lifted Chad's mattress, with him still on it, and flipped him onto the ground on the other side of the bed. Chad immediately jumped up and glared at the two before begrudgingly walking into his bathroom to shower.

Taylor and Hailey smirked, "don't take long we'll be downstairs," they spoke at the same time.

Chad, being terrified of what they might do if he did take too long, had a very quick shower and got ready. Eight minutes after the girls left his room Chad appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Let's go," Hailey smiled leading the couple out to her car.

Chad locked the house and got into Hailey's car, then a thought occurred to him as Hailey drove away.

"How'd you get into the house?" Chad asked Taylor curiously.

"I know where you keep the spare key," Taylor said rolling her eyes.

"Oh right Mum showed you that," Chad remembered.

"For the exact reason that I used it this morning, to make sure that you didn't oversleep when they aren't around," Taylor teased.

Chad shook his head but smiled at Taylor.

As soon as Hailey left them Taylor and Chad headed to the lockers and then the rehearsal space that Ryan had told them to meet him in.

Taylor sighed in relief when she realised that they weren't the last to arrive.

Ryan smiled at them and walked over, giving Taylor a hug and high fiving Chad.

"I'm glad you both turned up, I was starting to worry that you'd changed your mind," Ryan admitted.

"Sorry about that, this lunk head decided that he wanted to sleep in, like always," Taylor apologised.

Chad just shrugged, "I like sleep, nothing wrong with that. Besides Tay we're here now so no harm done."

Taylor just rolled her eyes at her boyfriend.

Gabriella walked into the room at that point and approached them.

Taylor hugged her tightly and Gabriella smiled softly.

Chad and Ryan then exchanged hugs with Gabriella.

"He'll be a part of it whether he realises or not," Ryan promised.

Gabriella smiled softly in response, "thanks Ryan. I just hope that he won't be completely different by the time the show comes around."

"He'll come around Gabi, he's never been the sharpest tool in the shed but he always returns to his friends eventually," Taylor told her best friend.

"This isn't the first time he's gone off on a different path?" Gabriella questioned.

"Nah, it is the first time that he's treated us differently. Usually when he tries something new we get ignored for a while and then he apologises constantly until everyone on the team says he's forgiven," Chad explained.

Gabriella sighed, "you couldn't have pre-warned me?"

Taylor smiled as she hugged her friend, "we didn't think that it would happen again. It's only happened like four times in the time I've known these guys. Chad's right though he's never treated his friends negatively until this time. Until high school I was friends with him, enough to know what he's like. Troy was a good guy he just never felt like he belonged so he tried fitting in everywhere only to work out that he only fit in with the basketball crowd. There's never been a pattern in his actions either so it's hard to know when and if something like that will happen again."

"Look he'll figure himself out. Everything will work out eventually," Ryan said confidently.

The rest of the day was spent rehearsing and reminiscing about the various ways that Troy always made amends after such events as him ignoring his friends for personal gain.

"I hope that Gabi doesn't think Troy is a bad guy. He's just always lost over what he wants," Taylor sighed as she and Chad sat by the pool at Chad's house after rehearsals.

"He'll come crawling back soon enough and Gabi will forgive him cause that's the type of girl she is," Chad replied.

Taylor smiled softly, "very true."

The following day was much the same with rehearsing for the talent show. They spent a lot of time just collaborating and coming up with ideas as they listened to the music and moved around to it. Ryan was still choreographing but it gave them all a chance to be apart of the process. The music that Kelsi was playing was upbeat and energising, she had every intention of making their routine song better than the music she'd altered for Sharpay and Troy's performance.

The only difference about this day was when they left for the night Taylor could have sworn that she saw Troy's truck and she hadn't seen him anywhere.

When Taylor mentioned it to Chad he told her to just shrug it off Troy was probably just working on his future.

The next day Taylor had left the kids early to have a longer lunch with Chad when she almost ran her golf cart right into Mr Fulton. She quickly slammed her foot on the break and looked at her boss in slight confusion.

"Ahh," Taylor said as she looked at the hand that Fulton held out in front of her.

Mr Fulton handed Taylor a stack of flyers, "distribute these in the staff area but not until after shift."

"What! Wait Mr Fulton," Taylor called in surprise as Mr Fulton walked away from her.

"No discussion Miss McKessie," Mr Fulton said sternly, "This. Is. A. Business. Welcome to the world of adults who wish to keep their jobs because they have mortgages they wish to pay. Tuition bills, car payments etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So sometimes we have to perform tasks, however unpleasant, that are necessary for that all too important paycheck to land in our too empty pockets."

Taylor could tell that her boss was stressed, "may I get you a cup of tea Mr Fulton?"

"Camomile would be lovely," Mr Fulton responded before seating beside Taylor in her golf cart.

Taylor silently drove her boss around to the back entrance for the kitchen.

Taylor led her boss into the kitchen and made him a cup of tea as Mr Fulton went and sat down in the staff meal area.

"What's up with him?" Zeke asked Taylor.

"Sharpay. Zeke I know you like her but really you could do sooooo much better," Taylor said truthfully.

"You don't know her like I do," Zeke insisted for the zillionth time.

Taylor just sighed and rolled her eyes as she took the cup of tea over to Mr Fulton.

Taylor decided to just get lunch from vending machine food, she didn't have the stomach to eat much else at this point knowing that she was going to be breaking her friends hearts at the end of their shifts.

Taylor spent the remainder of the day with the kids as far from the building as possible so that she wouldn't run into anyone and ruin their day's earlier than she was allowed.

When the last kids had been picked up by their parents Taylor felt her stomach lurch. Now was the time that her friends were going to be shattered. Knowing that she couldn't avoid it any longer Taylor grabbed the flyers from behind the front desk counter and headed for the kitchen where she knew everyone would be.

Taylor hesitated at the door when she heard her friends laughing and having a good time. Then she decided that if she didn't move soon then she really would chicken out.

"May I have your attention please!" Taylor called over the noise, holding up her clipboard, "You guys I need to make an announcement," the noise quieted and Taylor continued regretfully, "all junior staffers will be required to work on show night."

"What?" Martha and Gabriella said at the same time as everyone crowded around Taylor.

"Yeah," Taylor said sadly as she continued to read the flyer, "it says 'no staff participation in the show will be allowed, no exceptions."

Taylor handed the flyers out in disappointment.

"No show?" Martha asked.

"There's a show, we're just not in it," Taylor said defeatedly.

There were murmurs of disbelief and annoyance.

"I'm sorry guys there's nothing we can do about it, Fulton's orders," Taylor sighed.

"Nuh-uh," Chad responded, refusing to believe that their boss would do such a thing, "there's no way this is Fulton's idea."

"Not unless Fulton suddenly has blonde hair and wears designer flip-flops," Kelsi agreed.

Taylor could see the hurt spreading on Gabriella's face and immediately worried about her best friend as she left the room.

Chad looked after Gabriella then down at the flyer and up at Taylor. The couple both shook their heads and Chad headed to his locker while Taylor went to put the spare flyers in the trash can under the sink.

By the time Taylor and Chad left for the night their friends were all plotting Sharpay's demise.

"There's nothing we can do," Taylor sighed as she and Chad climbed into Hailey's car.

"There's always something," Chad said conspicuously.

That night when Taylor got ready for bed Gabriella called her to talk about what had happened between her and Troy after she left the kitchen.

Taylor spent the next four days calling her best friend every chance that she got only to get her voicemail.

Chad spent the four days debating calling his so-called best friend to check on him but always came to the same conclusion, Troy was in the wrong and deserved to feel some of the pain that Gabriella had been feeling from him over the past few weeks.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The morning of the talent show Taylor finally got through to Gabriella and told her about a plan that she and Ryan had come up with to get Troy back to his regular self.

Chad on the other hand was in the kitchen with the team, Martha, and Kelsi when Troy walked in for breakfast.

Chad, Jason, and Kelsi were trying to figure out what they could do to get back in the talent show. Ryan and Taylor were figuring out how to get Gabriella back so it was up to them to work out how to get the team back into the talent show.

"It's okay, Ryan can help us," Kelsi was saying when Troy approached them.

"I don't know, I...," Chad started, stopping himself when Troy sat across from them.

"We'll get it eventually," Kelsi said.

Chad grabbed his plate and walked away, he really wasn't interested in what Troy had to say. He watched Kelsi give Troy the flyer about their not being allowed in the show to see his reaction.

His reaction did surprise Chad. Troy scrunched up the flyer and walked away.

"Well that looked like the old Troy," Jason said positively.

"Yeah, we'll see," Chad said, he refused to be happy that his best friend was back until he actually was.

Taylor spent the day ushering people into the building where they would be led to tables at the back by other staff members for the talent show. It wasn't starting until five but people were arriving from three so she had been put on door duty instead of kid duty for the day.

Chad spent the day serving the people who arrived early, in the restaurant. Mr Fulton had ordered all staff to be on alert and not let visitors and members into the talent show area until 4:30. It had been a busy day.

Taylor was relieved when the final guests arrived at 4:45, only people with a ticket were granted access to the club that day in order to keep those who hadn't bought tickets from being a part of the events. Taylor spotted Gabriella walking towards the building when the security personnel were locking up the doors.

"Wait, she's an employee who's working tonight," Taylor said quickly.

The two men sighed and waited until Gabriella was inside before they closed the doors.

Taylor hugged her best friend tightly, "I'm so glad that you're here. Now all I have to do is make sure that no one sees you until it's time."

Gabriella laughed softly, "well I guess we better get to hiding."

Taylor smiled and led her best friend into Mr Fulton's office, the only place that would be occupied all night.

"I assume that Chad plans to text you when we need to leave?" Gabriella asked.

Taylor smiled, "yes he does. Then we're going to sneak out of the building and to the back of the seating area so that no one sees you except the other employees."

They spent the next couple of hours catching up on everything that they had missed with each other over the last four days.

It was 6:50 by the time Taylor received a text from Chad.

"He says that they've patched things up with Troy and everything's falling into place. He'll text me again when it's time to join the crowd," Taylor explained to Gabriella.

"Well I guess all that's left is for Troy and I to make up," Gabriella said.

"He's an idiot but he loves you so that makes up for it," Taylor laughed.

Gabriella grinned, "you are very right."

Ten minutes later the girls headed out of Mr Fulton's office and joined their friends and fellow employees at the back of the audience. Their plan for Troy not to see Gabriella was perfect, Kelsi had him distracted with learning their new song. A song which Gabriella herself had only learned that morning. Kelsi hadn't chosen a song for their performance until two days ago and because Taylor couldn't get ahold of Gabriella until that morning she couldn't learn the song until then either.

Taylor smiled at Chad as he came into view, they hugged and then stood side-by-side while Gabriella hid behind them.

"Showtime," Chad said with a grin as he held Taylor's hand.

"Time to put two souls back together," Taylor agreed.

They all faced the stage as Mr Fulton introduced the 'act' and Kelsi began playing the music.

Taylor and Chad couldn't help the grin's that appeared on their faces when Troy ended his verse and Gabriella began to sing behind them. Their 'family' was finally going to be bought back together again.

They tried not to laugh at the confused look on Troy's face as he continued to sing.

Troy finally looked over at them and Chad and Taylor moved apart to let Gabriella step out from behind them. Chad wrapped an arm around Taylor's shoulders as their friends began to walk towards each other as they sang.

Taylor smiled at the pair, as much as she loved Chad she knew that if any couple were destined to be together it would be Gabriella and Troy.

Chad couldn't help but feel the same way, their friends were soulmates.

The couple began to think about their own relationship and hope that they would be soulmates too.

They were both pulled from their uncertain thoughts when Troy and Gabriella sang the leading words that meant they had to head towards the stage.

"Everyday," all of the employees sang and Taylor and Chad lead the way to the stage dancing and singing.

It was the moment that they had been rehearsing and the fun that everyone was having as they sang and danced was evident to the audience.

There wasn't one face on that stage as they took their final bow who didn't have a massive grin.

Everyone was proud of Sharpay when she awarded the 'Star Dazzle' to Ryan.

Taylor and Chad shared a smile when they were ushered off stage in opposite directions. Whether they were soulmates or not was irrelevant to them at that moment because all that mattered was their friends and being able to celebrate their success.

Mr Fulton ordered the regular employees to clean up before they headed home and told the Wildcats that they could have the night off and return the following day where they would be allowed to make use of the pool area with the other employees. Ryan had made the request before he ruined Sharpay's show. The team all got changed out of their formal attire, not wanting to damage it.

Taylor, Chad, Gabriella, Troy, Kelsi, Ryan, Martha, Jason, Sharpay, and Zeke all headed out to the tee off for the first hole on the golf course each carrying a lantern that had been situated around the stage area.

Chad took ahold of Taylor's lantern as they approached the hill and Taylor held onto Chad's arm. What could have been a bad night turned into a beautiful one.

They all watched a shooting star fly across the sky and they each made wishes.

Taylor wished that she and Chad would be soulmates.

Chad wished that he and Taylor would be together forever.

They all, except for Troy and Gabriella, ran down the hill and started dancing around.

Fireworks went off behind them and Chad starting spinning Taylor around both of them laughing and smiling. As if the fates were against them the sprinklers turned on, it didn't stop the happiness that they all felt though as they continued to dance around crazily and with no intention of stopping.

The next day was just as much fun as the previous night. They all got to enjoy the pool and have a great day. It was meant to be only for employees but Sharpay and Ryan decided to join them.

No one knew if Sharpay would stay the nice girl that she was at the moment but they were all willing to see if she truly could change.

As for Taylor and Chad they were both looking forward to their future together and hoping that their senior year would be full of more happiness and fun than their summer had been.

A/N: Sorry that the last chapters were a bit rushed. I'm busy writing the prequel to this which will be out soon and the sequel to 'Sparks Fly' which already has one chapter posted under 'All In'. I hope you enjoy them :-)


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